Dennis's story: FoCo Fondo

BaseCamp athlete Dennis Wojcik shared his experience at the 2026 FoCo Fondo bike race in Colorado.

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Up at 0515 to eat overnight oats (with dates and honey) and a cup of coffee. Was kind of a nice slow wakeup. Decided to wear the water jersey from last year, because it was the lightest color jersey I had. Took some alt red at 0615 and started the drive at 0630 for the 0730 start. They moved the start earlier for the heat wave.

Got to the event at 0645 and did a short 10-minute warmup, because the lineup started early last year. Well, it started even earlier this year. The pen was packed at 0705. It was a 3-mile neutral start so just deal with it. Took a gel shot at 0720 and set up for the start.

The start was a little chaotic but not too bad. I worked my way up to the main lead group (big) and stayed with them to about 14-mile mark. Certainly a lot of yo-yoing going on, but survivable. At about 14 miles in, I felt that I needed to back off a bit and started to hit my own pace. I did find small groups to jump to, which helped.

I stopped at the first rest stop around mile 29 to top off fluids. It was hot, and I was drinking a lot. I had a new isolated hydration bladder that worked well. Note: I filled it with ice and Skratch, and it felt nice and cool on my back. I also ate a rice crispy treat, and it made my stomach a bit upset. Normally they don’t, but the heat maybe.

After the rest stop, I group jumped to about mile 45, where I found a more stable group. There was a really rough sandbox double track after the rest stop that I did ok riding in low gear but had to dismount when the line in front faltered. It was uphill, and walking spiked my HR. I was really hurting and needed to recover.

Around mile 45 I found a small group, and it was nice. It kind of fell apart a bit around mile 50 but regrouped.

I started to get a twinge of cramp around mile 55 when I stood but held off the cramps. The run in to the final was great right up to a hard right turn in loose stuff right before the New Belgium brewery. I came in too fast and slid out. Right side has some some rash and is strained my right bicep and badly bruises my left hand at the base of my thumb. Helmet has some dents so time to replace. Boo.

For fuel I did a lot of chews and I put SiS gels in two flasks. Combined with the Skratch, that was good.

Overall finished in 3:41:30 gun time. 15+ minutes faster than last year.